No solid plans for me, thinking of making it an easy year with big (costy) plans for 2015 (my 50th). I will end up doing some (family) riding in southeast Belgium and hit some local Trappist breweries, and maybe some cobble sections (wrong part of the country though). If I finally win the RAMROD lottery (low odds) then maybe finally I can add that one to the list. Other than that challenge my own times on the local hillclimbs.

i would definitely like to feel better. i'm not sure if it's diet or stress or proper medications but i would like to get it under control. if i feel like crap, i ride like crap. last year i did a short bike tour in central texas and i would like to expand on that. eastern oregon/idaho would be ideal. i have a short local camping trip planned for the spring but it's not really epic, just trying to get out of the house. i was doing a lot more off road biking in the past but i've gotten so tired of riding our local trails that i've stuck to the road and spin classes. my upper body is paying for it so i need to get back out in the woods. i've been talking about relocating out west somewheres so maybe this will be the year.

2014 is about one thing and one thing only (as far as athletic goals) - Ironman Madison.

My struggles to run and remain injury-free continue. Don't think I mentioned this when it occurred, but as my plantar fasciitis continued to plague me, I went to a podiatrist that treated my Achilles injury (and told me to get to the ER when I had my blood clot). Turns out I also had a stress fracture in my heel -cue 6 weeks on crutches.

Got off them 3 weeks ago and just now picked up my custom orthotics. I am hoping those helps olve my problems. Still some residual heel discomfort....

For now, I am swimming almost everyday and riding on the trainer when I want to (which isn't often!). Starting in January, I'll start to structure the bike a bit more and begin some cross-training for the run...elliptical, stair master and water-running. This will be my "Prep" phase. Come late March, I start my IM training program, about 23 weeks out from the race.

Given my rash of running injuries (Achilles, ITBS, plantar fasciitis and a stress fracture), I have no grand goals. I just want to finish and hopefully run the entire marathon. If it is 10 minutes / mile, so be it.

CK - my kid can relate. He is suffering from Sever's osteochondrosis (achilles injury due to overuse in growing kids) and hasn't been playing soccer for two weeks now, taped up and all. Bouncing off the walls and grumpy. Fortunately fields have been closed due to snow so he's not missing too much.

I just want 2014 to be void of any bombs in my life. A nice, smooth year where I can enjoy things without being so overly stressed and depressed. As it pertains to cycling, I desperately want to build up a new bike with DA 9070 Di2. The frame is yet to be determined but you'd think it would be a LeMond or Time! ha ha Other than that, I want to continue improving. The big ride I want to do is leave my house, climb up Ox Creek to the Blue Ridge Parkway, then on to Craggy Gardens, finishing at the top of Mt. Mitchell. Would be insane if I could do that.

KR, a buddy and I want to try bowfishing snakeheads next year. No limit on those bastages....everyone is encouraged to take as many as possible to try to hold them at bay. Not your tranquil soul-searching fly fishing but a more agro-like PBR-swilling activity.

I got a whole fish bowl of crap going on in the world including a move, a reverse bachelor party, and lots of professional rejiggering in which I might contest the "annual trips to the far east" prize with CK. But I'll be back in New England so more skiing and time on the water. Hoping to do some of the many fun stage races they have up there, plus a few marathon mtb races, then have a more significant cx season than this year. Planning and executing on all the aforementioned crap meant this year's cx season never really got started before I pulled the plug on it.

We're aging! I'm looking for a quiet year, more miles than this year (which was my lowest in quite a while) but not the 5000 fixed with lots of hill of two years ago. I really want no health related downtime. Also start running, continue with weight lifting and try to shape this body to something that can go the distance. (Bone mass being a potentially limiting factor.) Cycle Oregon probably if I can get in.